Roommate Living

A recent episode of The Colin McEnroe Show discussed the joys and challenges of living with roommates, with guests like Susan Salisbury, the director of residential life at Trinity College, who talks about how she matches college roommates together in residence halls (she looks at the surveys students fill out saying whether or not they’re early or late risers and what their study habits are like, and then matches everyone using pen and paper), The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson, who talks about some of the economic consequences of more millennials rooming together for longer periods of time (instead of buying houses and starting families, which they’re postponing for monetary reasons), and an appearance from two of those dudes from Fortress Astoria (those best friends and roommates who have been living together for nearly two decades). A caller asks something like, “How do you keep the peace when your roommates have a hard time doing things like taking out the trash when it’s their turn on the chore board?” (CHORE BOARD!). The Fortress Astoria dudes respond, “The only agreements we have are to pay the rent, and wash your dishes. Everyone just has to be conscientious of each other.” If only it were that easy.